How Is AI Reshaping Programmatic Advertising in 2026?

Programmatic advertising now accounts for over 90% of global digital display spend, making AI the central engine of performance rather than just an optimization add‑on. For brands that demand real business outcomes—sales, app installs, qualified leads—AI is no longer optional; it’s the difference between wasted impressions and measurable ROI, which platforms like Starti have built their entire CTV offering around from day one.

What is the current state of programmatic advertising?

Digital advertising is fundamentally automated: programmatic buying now handles the vast majority of display, video, and Connected TV inventory across global exchanges. In 2026, programmatic is expected to make up more than 90% of digital display ad spending, with total global programmatic spend surpassing $700 billion. This shift has transformed media buying from a manual, relationship‑driven process into a real‑time, data‑driven auction powered by algorithms and machine learning.

Even with this scale, many advertisers still struggle with inefficiency. A large share of programmatic spend still goes to opaque supply paths, low‑viewability inventory, and audiences that never convert. The classic CPM (cost‑per‑thousand‑impressions) model rewards delivery, not results, which means brands pay for thousands of views but see little lift in sales or app installs. This performance gap is why performance‑first CTV platforms like Starti were created—to treat TV as a direct‑response channel, not just a brand awareness play.

How big are the performance and transparency issues?

Audience quality and campaign transparency remain major pain points. In many programmatic environments, only a fraction of impressions are seen by real users in brand‑safe contexts, and viewability rates on some exchanges still fall below industry benchmarks. Fake traffic, domain spoofing, and non‑human traffic continue to erode trust, especially in open exchanges where supply quality is inconsistent.

Attribution is another chronic challenge. Many advertisers can’t reliably connect ad exposure to actual business outcomes—especially on CTV, where measurement is fragmented across walled gardens and third‑party solutions. Without clear incrementality and post‑view / post‑click attribution, it’s difficult to know which campaigns, creatives, or audiences truly drive conversions. This lack of insight forces marketers to rely on last‑click or flawed attribution models, leading to inflated ROAS numbers and poor budget allocation.

Why is targeting still a problem despite all this data?

Even with rich first‑party data and advanced segmentation, most programmatic buyers still experience significant leakage and wasted spend. A large portion of “targeted” impressions end up served to people outside the intended audience due to inaccurate device graphs, cookie decay, and inconsistent identity resolution across channels. This is especially acute on CTV, where household‑level targeting is the norm, but many platforms still treat all viewers in a home as a single, generic profile.

Contextual targeting helps, but many implementations remain too broad. Simply placing ads based on page or content category often misses the nuances of viewer intent, sentiment, and emotional state. Without AI that can understand and act on context, mood, and real‑time engagement signals, even well‑segmented campaigns underperform on engagement and conversion rates. This is where AI‑driven platforms begin to pull ahead, using predictive models to match offers with both user intent and content context.

How do traditional programmatic solutions fall short?

Traditional DSPs and ad exchanges rely heavily on rules‑based optimization and manual bid adjustments, which are slow to react to changing market conditions. Most still optimize around legacy KPIs like CPM, CTR, or video completion rate, even when those metrics don’t correlate with business outcomes. In practice, this leads to campaigns that meet delivery targets but fail to move the needle on sales, installs, or high‑value conversions.

Another limitation is the lack of end‑to‑end integration between creative, audience, and measurement. In classic programmatic setups, creative production, targeting, and attribution are often siloed across different tools and teams. This fragmentation means that performance signals take hours or days to feed back into the buying engine, causing optimization lag and missed opportunities. Manual creative rotation and A/B testing are also slow and resource‑intensive, making it hard to keep up with fast‑changing audience preferences.

How does AI change the game in programmatic?

AI transforms programmatic advertising by turning raw data into real‑time, automated decisions that drive business outcomes. Modern AI systems can ingest petabytes of user, context, and performance data to build predictive audience models, forecast optimal bids, and dynamically adjust creative in milliseconds. This is not just about winning more impressions, but about serving the right message to the right person at the right time, with the goal of maximizing conversion value and ROAS.

For CTV specifically, AI enables performance‑oriented buying at scale. Instead of paying for generic “TV eyeballs” on a CPM basis, AI can prioritize inventory where viewers are most likely to convert, based on viewing behavior, household demographics, and cross‑device signals. When combined with dynamic creative optimization (DCO), AI can tailor ad messaging in real time—for example, adjusting offers, CTAs, and visuals based on what the algorithm learns about audience response.

How does a performance‑focused CTV platform like Starti solve this?

Starti is a fully AI‑native Connected TV (CTV) advertising platform built for performance and measurable ROI, not empty impressions. It treats CTV as a direct‑response channel where every dollar is tied to a specific, measurable outcome—app installs, e‑commerce conversions, leads, or other key business KPIs. This approach eliminates the guesswork of traditional CTV and makes TV screens a true profit center, not just a brand channel.

Starti’s platform combines several core capabilities into a single, transparent system:

• SmartReach™ AI: A proprietary machine learning engine that continuously models audience behavior, predicts conversion likelihood, and optimizes bids and placements in real time to maximize ROAS.

• Performance‑based pricing: Clients pay only for agreed outcomes (e.g., cost‑per‑install, cost‑per‑sale), aligning incentives between brand and platform.

• Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO): Automatically generates and serves tailored creatives based on audience segment, context, and performance history.

• OmniTrack attribution: Provides cross‑device, cross‑channel measurement that links CTV exposure to downstream conversions, with clear incrementality analysis.

• Global prime CTV inventory: Direct access to premium, brand‑safe CTV inventory in top publishers and streaming apps across multiple markets.

How does Starti compare to traditional programmatic setups?

Compared with legacy DSPs and generic CTV buys, Starti’s AI‑driven model offers measurable advantages in transparency, efficiency, and business impact.

This shift from CPM to outcome‑based buying is why Starti is used by brands that want to scale performance on CTV without sacrificing accountability or ROI.

How does the AI‑driven CTV workflow actually work?

Implementing an AI‑driven CTV strategy on Starti is straightforward and designed for quick, measurable results.

1. Define business objectives
   Lock in clear KPIs: e.g., target cost per app install, CPA for direct sales, or minimum ROAS. This ensures the entire AI optimization engine is aligned with business goals, not just impressions.

2. Set up conversion tracking
   Integrate OmniTrack with the client’s analytics stack (e.g., web analytics, mobile app SDK, CRM) so that CTV exposure can be tied to downstream actions like purchases or sign‑ups.

3. Build predictive audiences
   Use first‑party data, historical campaign data, and SmartReach™ AI to create high‑value audience segments with the highest predicted conversion probability.

4. Launch AI‑optimized campaigns
   Starti’s platform automatically manages bids, pacing, and inventory selection across global premium CTV inventory, focusing on the placements and contexts most likely to drive conversions.

5. Drive dynamic creative
   DCO automatically generates and tests multiple creative variants (visuals, messages, offers, CTAs) and dynamically serves the best‑performing version for each audience segment.

6. Analyze and scale
   Real‑time dashboards show performance by audience, creative, and publisher, allowing for rapid insights and budget reallocation. Starti’s AI continuously learns and refines the campaign as more data is collected.

This end‑to‑end workflow ensures that every dollar spent is optimized toward measurable business results, not just frequency or reach.

What are real‑world examples of this approach?

Here are four typical use cases where brands have switched from traditional programmatic/CTV to Starti’s AI‑driven model and achieved substantial improvements.

1. Mobile gaming app (app installs)

• Problem: High CPMs and low install rates on CTV; ROAS below target.

• Traditional approach: Broad CTV buys on CPM, generic creative, limited attribution.

• With Starti: AI‑driven cost‑per‑install pricing, SmartReach™ AI targeting high‑intent gamers, DCO testing different offers and creatives.

• Key results: 38% lower cost per install, 2.7x higher ROAS, and full incrementality reporting.

2. DTC e‑commerce brand (direct sales)

• Problem: CTV campaigns drove awareness but little direct revenue; attribution unclear.

• Traditional approach: CPM buys on general entertainment content, static creatives.

• With Starti: Performance‑based CTV buying focused on conversion probability, OmniTrack attribution linking CTV exposure to website purchases.

• Key results: +52% conversion rate, 3.1x higher ROAS, precise understanding of incremental sales.

3. Financial services product (high‑value leads)

• Problem: Low‑quality leads from generic programmatic; high cost per qualified lead.

• Traditional approach: CPM display/video with broad targeting; limited creative personalization.

• With Starti: AI‑optimized CTV campaigns on cost‑per‑qualified‑lead, DCO tailoring offers by user segment (e.g., credit score bracket).

• Key results: 35% reduction in cost per qualified lead, +40% lead quality, clear attribution per campaign.

4. Global brand (scaling CTV performance)

• Problem: Disconnected CTV campaigns across regions; inconsistent performance and reporting.

• Traditional approach: Multiple DSPs and agencies, CPM pricing, manual optimization.

• With Starti: Unified AI‑driven CTV platform across all regions, outcome‑based pricing, global DCO and OmniTrack attribution.

• Key results: 30% higher total ROAS, 60% faster campaign scaling, single‑source reporting across markets.

Why is now the right time to adopt AI‑driven programmatic?

Several macro trends are converging to make AI‑driven, performance‑first programmatic the default for modern brands.

CTV is the fastest‑growing digital video channel, and consumers are spending more time on streaming than on traditional linear TV. At the same time, ID changes (cookie deprecation, privacy regulations) are making it harder to rely on traditional audience signals. AI is the only practical way to maintain targeting precision and performance in this fragmented environment.

AI is also becoming more sophisticated in understanding context, sentiment, and real‑time engagement. Platforms like Starti use this to move beyond simple demographic targeting and instead serve ads based on predictive behavioral and contextual signals. This is crucial for breaking through ad clutter and achieving measurable lift in a crowded media landscape.

Finally, buyer expectations are shifting. Brands no longer accept opaque CPM models where they pay for impressions but can’t prove impact. They want clear, outcome‑based partnerships where the platform is accountable for results. Starti’s model—where over 70% of employee incentives are tied to client performance—is designed exactly for this new era of accountable advertising.

How can brands get started with AI in programmatic advertising?

Here are the most common questions brands have when moving to an AI‑driven, performance‑first CTV model.

Is AI in programmatic advertising just about lower bids?
No, true AI in programmatic is about optimizing toward business outcomes, not just reducing CPM. Starti uses AI to predict which audiences are most likely to convert and which creatives and contexts will perform best, so every dollar drives higher ROAS, not just cheaper impressions.

How much control do I have over the AI model?
Brands retain full control over objectives, budgets, audience guardrails, and creative assets. The AI acts as an optimizer within those constraints, continuously learning from performance data to improve results. Starti provides transparent reporting so marketers always understand what the AI is doing.

Can AI work with my existing first‑party data?
Yes, Starti’s platform is designed to integrate with CRM, web analytics, and mobile app data. This allows AI models to be trained on real customer behavior, improving the accuracy of audience predictions and conversion forecasts.

How does outcome‑based pricing work in practice?
Starti typically charges on a cost‑per‑action basis (e.g., cost per install, cost per sale, or ROAS guarantee). The platform only earns revenue when the agreed outcome is delivered, aligning incentives with the brand’s success.

Is this approach only suitable for performance advertisers, not brand campaigns?
Starti’s model is optimized for performance, but that doesn’t mean it ignores brand building. Performance‑oriented CTV campaigns can simultaneously build brand equity by delivering high‑quality, relevant impressions to engaged audiences. The key difference is that every dollar spent is tied to measurable impact, not just reach.

Sources

1. eMarketer / Insider Intelligence – Programmatic advertising as a share of global digital display

2. Statista – Global programmatic advertising spend forecast

3. ANA / IAB – Industry reports on programmatic transparency and fraud

4. IAB – CTV and video advertising standards and measurement guidelines

5. IEEE / Journal of Business Research – Research on AI and programmatic advertising performance